White Sox’s Davis Martin undergoes Tommy John surgery

The White Sox have informed reporters, including James Fegan of The Athletic, that right-hander Davis Martin has undergone Tommy John surgery.

Martin, 26, made his major league debut last year. He tossed 63 1/3 innings across 14 outings, nine of those being starts. He registered a 4.83 ERA in that time, striking out 17.8% of opponents while walking 7.1% and getting grounders on 36.7% of balls in play.

Martin came into this season with many considering him to be the club’s sixth starter behind the regular rotation of Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger. All five of them have stayed healthy this year, which kept Martin down in Triple-A. 

He made three starts for the Charlotte Knights with a 2.81 ERA before landing on the minor league injured list with a forearm strain. It seems that further testing revealed the bad news and Martin will now go under the knife, missing the remainder of 2023 and the early parts of 2024 as well.

In the short term, it doesn’t immediately affect the White Sox, since their top five 

rotation options are still healthy and have been taking the ball on turn. But it’s essentially unheard of for a club to get through a full season using only five starters, meaning they will have to call upon another arm at some point. 

It’s also possible that the 15-28 White Sox end up selling at the deadline, opening up a rotation spot for the final months of the season.

Martin would have been the top option for such a job but will no longer be in the mix. Jesse Scholtens is on the club’s 40-man and has a 3.99 ERA through seven starts for Charlotte so far this year. 

Sean Burke is one of the club’s touted pitching prospects and is also with Charlotte, though he has a 9.49 ERA on the year and isn’t yet on the 40-man.